The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-10-17
Conversation.


to touch. be cause many people under
stand conversation to be talk; not
the exchange of ideas, but of words;
and the Drawer would not like to say
anything to increase the flow of the lat
ter. We read of times and saions in
which real conversation existed. held
by men and women. Are they alto
gether in the pastP We believe that
men do sometimes converse. DO wo-
men everP Perhaps so. In those hours
sacred to the relaxation of undress and
he back hair. in the upper penctrala
Of the household where two or three or
sjx are gathered together on and about
I.he cushioned frame intended for re-
pose, do they converse, or indulge in
that sort of chat from which not one
:dca is carried away? No one reports.
fortunately, and we do not know. But
do all the women like this method of
spending hour after hour, day after
day-ndeed, lifetime? Is 1t in
vigorating, even restfulP Think of the
talk this past summer, the rivers and
oceans of it, on piazzas and galleries in
The warm evenings or the fresher
mornings, in private houses. on hotel
verandas, in the shade of thousands OF
cottages by the sea and in the hills! As
you recall ID, what was it all about?
Was the mind in vapid condition af-
Ter an evening of itP And there is so
much to read. and so much to think
about, and the world is so interesting.
If you do think about it, and nearly
every person has some popularity OF
mind that would be worth study If you
could only get at it! 1t is really, we
repeat, such an interesting world, and
most people get so little out of it. Now
there is the conversation of hens, when
the hens are busy and not sclf-con-
scious; there is something fascinating
about il, because the Imagination may
invest it with recond tc and SPICY
mean ng; but the common talk OF peo-
pie! We infer sometimes that the hens
are not saying anything, because they
do not read, and consequently their
minds are empty. And perhaps we
are right. As to conversation. there
is no use in sending the bucket into the
well when the well is dry-it only
makes rafting of windlass and chain.
The Drawer does not wish to be UNI
derstood as an enemy of the light
traffic of human speech. Deliver us
from the didactic and everlastingly inn
proved style of thing! Conversation in
order to be good. intellectually inspir-
ing, and spiritually restful. need not
ALWAYS be serious. II must be alert
and intelligent, and mean more by its
suggestions and illusions than is said.
There is the light touch-and-go play
about topics more or less profound
that is as agreeable rs heat lightning
in sultry evening. Why may not II
person express the whims and vagaries
of lam bent mind Gf he can get lam
bent mind) without being hauled up
short for it, and plunged into heated
dispute? In the freedom OF real con-
versation the mind throws out half
thoughts, paradoxes, for which man
is not to be held strictly responsible to
the very roots of his being, and which
need to be caught up and played with
in the same tentative spirit The dis
pute and the hot argument are usually
the bane of conversation and the death
of originality. We like TO express n
notion, fancy, without being called
upon to defend it, then and there, in
all its possible consequences, as If it
wore m article in creed or a plank in
platform. Must we be always either
vapid or serious?
The Drawer has been obliged to take
notice of the extraordinary tendency
of American women to cultiva-
ton. to the Improvement of the
mind. by means of reading, clubs,
and other intellectual exercises,
and to acknowledge that they are lcav-
ing the men behind; that is, the men
not in the so-called professions. Is
this NATURALIZATION beginning to
show in the conversation OF women
when they are together. say in the
hours of relaxation in the penetrala
spoken of, or in general society," Is
there less talk about the fashion OF
dress, and the DEAFNESS or cheapness OF
materials. and about servants. and the
WAYS of the inchoate citizen called the